Finally oven-baked Agemochi

After taking mochi cakes out of the plastic package, I left them on a plate to dry them out completely. It took nine days. Today I used a small mallet and crumbled them.

Instead of deep-frying them, I tossed mochi pieces with little olive oil and baked in the oven. The result was great – crisp, golden yet light.

2 ounce mochi pieces (completely dried)

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil or other cooking oil

Sea salt, freshly ground pepper

Place the rice cake crumbles in a bowl and toss them with the cooking oil. Place the crumbles on a cookie sheet and bake them in a heated oven (400 degree F) until plump and golden. Remove the rice cake crumbles from the oven and toss with the sea salt and ground pepper.